Bankruptcy

Are “Bankruptcy Directors” Bad for Creditors?

A new paper studies the rise of so-called “bankruptcy directors,” typically former bankruptcy lawyers, investment bankers, or distressed debt traders who join...

Defying Expectations, Bankruptcy Filings Are Down During the Covid-19 Crisis So Far

Historically, bankruptcy filings have closely tracked the business cycle and unemployment rates. However, a recent study found that this relationship has reversed...

Should Small Businesses Consider Bankruptcy? A New Capitalisn’t Reading List

The coronavirus has taken a heavy toll on most businesses, but it has been especially hard on small businesses. Should those businesses...

How to Avoid a Mass of Business Bankruptcies: Two Policy Proposals

Existing fiscal and monetary policies are powerless to restore firms’ revenues during this health emergency. Many firms will soon begin having trouble meeting their...

The Secret Code of Capital and the Origin of Wealth Inequality

Capital is not a thing, but a social relation enforced by the law and the state. With the right legal coding, any object, claim,...

LATEST NEWS

The Impact of Large Institutional Investors on Innovation Is Not as Positive as One Might Expect

In a new paper, Bing Guo, Dennis C. Hutschenreiter, David Pérez-Castrillo, and Anna Toldrà-Simats study how large institutional investors impact firm innovation. The authors find that large institutional investors encourage internal research and development but discourage firm acquisitions that would add patents and knowledge to their firms’ portfolios, hampering overall innovation.

The FTC Needs To Focus Arguments on Technological Transitions After High-Profile Losses

Joshua Gray and Cristian Santesteban argue that the Federal Trade Commission's focus in Meta-Within and Microsoft-Activision on narrow markets like VR fitness apps and consoles missed the boat on the real competition issue: the threat to future competition in nascent markets like VR platforms and cloud gaming.

We Need Better Research on the Relationship Between Market Power and Productivity in the Hospital Industry

Antitrust debates have largely ignored questions about the relationship between market power and productivity, and scholars have provided little guidance on the issue due to data limitations. However, data is plentiful on the hospital industry for both market power and operating costs and productivity, and researchers need to take advantage, writes David Ennis.

Debating the Draft Merger Guidelines: Transcript

On September 7, the Stigler Center hosted a webinar to discuss the draft merger guidelines. What follows is a slightly edited transcript of the event.

Holding Up the News

Meta has silenced news organizations’ social media accounts in response to Canada’s Online News Act, a law not yet in effect. Josh Braun describes the reasoning behind such legislation, its potential flaws, and how Meta, particularly Facebook, has turned the Canadian wildfire crisis into a regulatory pressure campaign.